What would happen if Ferrari went against the rules and made changes to their power unit for next year? What would be the penalty? If they get a fine and have to start every race from the back of the grid Would that be so bad? I'm sure they could handle the fine and if they did their homework right, then the benefits would outweigh the risk of starting from the back. What do you think?
Well IMO it would somewhat fly in the face of fair play and the rule book, so it would render the point of having a formula and rules, pointless.
DSQ from both championships, thus not rendering their entire season + prep utterly pointless and flushing 150+ million down the toilet. Also no pay from the FIA for finishing whereever (they'll finish last and there's no money there). Pretty much the only thing that can't be changed is the block next year, and that's not where the power is generated. All engines will have a similar to Mercedes turbo unit so power will be much closer. Mercedes will have an edge but much smaller. Personally I think we'll see a tight championship next year, main contenders being Mercedes, Red Bull, Mclaren (assuming the Honda engine is relatively close to Mercedes and the rest) and with some luck, Ferrari. Although I'm not liking the current state of the team with everyone being fired including a senior Aero man who allegedly ballsed it up again. That said...look what Red Bull achieved this year despite their entire car having to had a redesign due to being much to tightly packed. Great recovery and at fantastic speed.
We can imaging the FIA dishing out some penalties, but Ferrari would be treated with leniency, I guess. The FIA thinks F1 needs Ferrari more than Ferrari needs F1. Penalties? a $100 million fine perhaps? or suspension from 2 races (unlikely) ? or both cars demoted to the back of the grid for 5 consecutive GPs?
Interesting discussion, thanks for the replies. I wonder if the rule book details the possible penalties? I agree that they should try to follow the rules but I wonder if things were bad enough internally that they may have considered starting over from scratch and dealing with the consequences.
And a reversion to the old spec engine. At best. RB gets sanctioned for a slightly bendy wing. Ferrari would get slammed for giving F1 the big FU.
The rules are very clear and simple - When the car failed scrutineering when presented on the Thursday of each race weekend, it would have to be re-presented in compliance or would be excluded from participating in the race weekend. The consequences would be pretty extreme, they don't get much exposure or get many points when they would have to wheel the cars back in the trailer on Thursday.
Lol, so the question is if Ferrari just decided to just completely play by its own rules, what would happen? Mark
Then I´d put a 7 liter quad turbo V12. And 6 wheels. It wouldn´t be more illegal but a lot faster. If you´re going to get disqualified, do it in style.
Ferrari should blow up an engine at the end of each practice day next year. Have all the changes they want ready and push them through as reliability changes - job done
